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Rogers Cup preview: Arguing calls a time-honoured tennis tradition

The added drama supplied by over-the-top disputes of line calls and umpires’ decisions puts tennis a cut above the rest when it comes to histrionics.

France's Julien Benneteau argues with a referee during his French Tennis Open first round match against Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, on May 27, 2013. (Martin Bureau / AFP/Getty Images)

Serena Williams argues a point with the umpire during the third set of her 2004 U.S. Open quarter final match against Jennifer Capriati in this September 7, 2004 file photo. (Mike Segar / Reuters)

By Chris ZelkovichSpecial to the Star

Thu., Aug. 1, 2013

When it comes to drama, there’s nothing like a pro tennis tournament.

But lung-bursting rallies and spectacular comebacks are only part of the story. The added drama supplied by over-the-top disputes of line calls and umpires’ decisions puts tennis a cut above the rest when it comes to histrionics.

This year alone, tennis fans have witnessed the usual array of screaming, bug-eyed tennis players tossing racquets and questioning the ancestry of umpires and line judges.

But some stand out more than others simply because they’re so outrageous.

Jerzy Janowicz almost did a full McEnroe in arguing a call at the Australian Open, not only tossing a water bottle across the court but also hitting the umpire’s chair before making his final and somewhat wet point by spitting on the court.

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The young Polish star admitted later in a well-duh moment that he “went nuts.”

Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky got marks for creativity by backing up his rather loud case against an umpire’s call at the French Open by grabbing his cellphone and taking a photo of the spot he believed the ball landed on. He then sent out the photo on Twitter, no doubt in hopes of winning in the court of public opinion the case he’d lost on the court of tennis.

Serbia’s Viktor Troicki didn’t waste time with a cellphone, but instead commandeered a television camera to make a similar point at the Italian Open to cap a six-minute tirade over a disputed call.

But outside of entertaining, or possibly horrifying, the crowd and contributing to the sport’s memorable YouTube moments, these Academy Award outbursts don’t appear to accomplish anything.

The fact is that tennis umpires simply don’t change calls — even if they know they’ve made a mistake.

But is there a better way to make your point — and maybe even win a point?

“I’d be the wrong person to ask,” says John McEnroe, who along with Ilie Nastase set the gold standard for on-court meltdowns in his heyday three decades ago. “My advice would be to assume you’re going to lose the argument and go into it thinking that you’re trying to make a point but that you’re not going to let it affect you.

“I learned from experience that very seldom do they ever change once they’d made the call — even if they were absolutely wrong.”

That doesn’t mean a player is wasting his or her time by flipping out on the court. McEnroe often used his ballistic moments to break an opponent’s momentum or gain a possible edge on the next close call.

“Use it to blow off steam so you don’t get down on yourself,” he says.

McEnroe also passes on a piece of advice his father gave him early in his career: Say what you want, but never use a four-letter word.

Jimmy Arias, who had a successful 14-year pro career that ended in 1994, advises avoiding the theatrics.

“One thing that worked for me was being calm,” says Arias, who will work as an analyst for Sportsnet and CBC during the Rogers Cup. “I once got an umpire to overrule his overrule, which may never have happened before.”

Arias believes that worked because he kept his cool after the umpire overruled a line judge’s call that a shot was long.

“I calmly walked to the umpire and said, ‘You know me. I don’t cheat. You just missed that call. What you have to do is get on the mike and say, Look, I thought the linesman had called it out and I was just agreeing with the call,’ ” he said. “He did it. That one worked fantastically.”

But Arias admits he lost more than he won, no matter how calm he was.

The final word on this matter should come from an umpire.

Canadian Chahir Fitouhi will work the Rogers Cup in Montreal and advises players go into disputes knowing that their actions will have consequences.

“Be respectful,” he says. “A player should know that they have the right to complain. But the way you do it doesn’t matter. Nothing will change.

“All you’re doing is affecting your image, one way or another.”

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The Toronto Star will publish a special section on Saturday on the Rogers Cup.

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